Fernando

After the last post, I thought I should add something light-hearted. I have a new hot-tubing buddy named Fernando. Ah, not what you think... he's a little tree frog who's taken up residence under the hot tub cover. I first discovered him a few weeks ago and had fun watching him skittle along the edge. Although I was a bit worried - he's a reddish color instead of bright green (from the heat of the tub).

Last week I startled him. He dove into the water and was swimming around, as I screamed, "get out, get out, you're gonna die" (because of course, frogs understand English and would respond to such cries), before scooping him to safety. Now before I relax in the hot tub, I have to search for him and place him well away from the edge so we don't have a repeat performance. I have a feeling he's found his spot for the winter... as long as he keeps out of the water, he's welcome to stay.

Kwanzaa

Last week was a difficult and sad one for me. Kwanzaa, one of the goats, had been sick for a few weeks. I was nursing him back to health with extra food and electrolytes. He seemed to be improving and I thought we'd be out of the woods in another couple of weeks. But in the middle of the week he took a turn for the worse. Knowing there was nothing left to do, I called the vet to put him down. Sadly, between the call and when the vet arrived, Kwanzaa went down. I spent his last few hours with him on the floor of the goat shed stroking his neck and talking him through it. For me this is the hard part of country life and having animals, but it is part of life. His sweet demeanour will be missed and I'm grateful for the pleasure he brought me.

Oh Yeah, Still Blonde

When you buy a house in town, it takes 6 months to a year and you know how everything works... furnace, hot water heater, sprinkler system, etc. I've lived here six years now and still don't know how some things work - they work, that's all ya need to know.

Well, I'm getting a frustrating lesson in how the pond aerator/fountain works this week. The pond's about a half acre around and15 ft deep in the middle with a fountain on a timer that keeps the water clean. I know where the timer is and how to set it, but nothing beyond that. It stopped working this week, so now I get to fix it. I fished out the owners manual and read that I should be doing routine maintenance every two years... really, it's anchored to the bottom somehow and weighs at least 150 lbs.

I'm thinking this will all require a bit of diving and swimming with the trout and bull frogs - mostly I'm worried how scummy it will be under that fountain. Yuck! I row out in my little boat to see what I can see from the surface, which is nothing. So, I go back to the manual and try to get into the right frame of mind to swim around in the murky depths. The diagram shows two anchors holding the fountain in place and I think I can reach them from the boat. Of course once you remove the chains holding the fountain to the anchor they'll sink, so I bring along two empty laundry detergent bottles (this is where recycling really pays off). I disconnect the fountain from the anchors and tie the ropes to the Tide bottles (a nice red-neck look on the pond), tie the fountain to the boat and begin to row ashore. Except I'm not going ashore, just in circles. For god sakes, why? Well shit, it has to be attached to electricity somewhere and that would be under water and require the diving I was trying to avoid.

So I remove the red-neck float devices, re-anchor the fountain and go back to the manual for help. Three days and several calls to the manufacture later, all I've learned is there should be a filter box on shore that needs cleaning. I've found two electric boxes and a few routers for the irrigation (that I didn't know existed), but no filters.

Another look at the manual and I think I really will be diving the chilly waters with the fish. I love living in the country because it forces you to figure out things you normally wouldn't think about, but some days it's freakin' brain damage!